Over 20 years ago when mp3 . com was at it's peak - by being the goto place for amateur and less known musicians - there was a producer (or band?) called Abattoir that produced Dark Ambient. I recall that the songs were quite good, perhaps not as excellent as Lustmord but pretty darn good.

After Vivendi International acquired the website and dismantled it in 2003 it seems that Abattoir disappeared off the internet. I have not been able to find any information on this artist or their music since then.

Does anyone here remember that artist or know any information about them and their songs?

Hi all, I hope you are well. My friend always has certain films lined up to watch each Halloween and it got me thinking about how I don't really do the same with music, but other people might. I was curious if anyone reading has a certain album or playlist that they always seem to return to each Halloween and if so, what those albums/tracks might be? :)

Edit: Thanks to everyone for the great replies and stuff to check out :)

Traditionally, I believe it's Lustmord's Heresy, but there is certainly an argument to be made for many 80s works from SPK, Zoviet France, Jeff Greinke, and Maurizio Bianchi. My question is, where do you place the beginning of the genre?

I'm not really looking for when the genre first started coming into creation, but rather curious about what you would consider the first truly recognizable by today, dark ambient record. I think there's also probably an argument to be made that the 80s stuff is more "proto-dark ambient" rather than what we traditionally view the genre as of today, so I'm just curious about everyone's thoughts on the matter.

I personally always subscribed to the view that there were examples of dark ambient records before the 90s, but Lustmord was the first true dark ambient artist. I'm not entirely sure if I still agree with this point, but the earliest record I'd personally say I consider to be inarguably, without a shadow of a doubt, proper bang for your buck dark ambient, is Jeff Greinke's Cities in Fog. I don't consider any of the stuff I've really heard prior to the 80s as what by today's standards I'd call dark ambient (I'm more than happy to refer to something like Tangerine Dream's Zeit as "proto-dark ambient" along with any experimental industrial works in the 70s), but prior to '85 I'm sadly not familiar with the Zoviet France, Maurizio Bianchi, or whatever other industrial works of this point (and am sad to say I'm not really familiar with the likes of these artists much if at all to begin with.) It's certainly something I'd like to correct, but at least in my experience, the material I've encountered prior to '85 I'm happy saying I wouldn't recognize as dark ambient in the likes of what we see it today.

Obviously I have much to learn with the 80's and prior material, but I am curious on the thoughts of everyone else. While it may not matter to some, I think having a (friendly) debate or discussion over genres, such as their definitions or where they began, is both interesting and informative.